Carton forming and card packaging machine



July 3, 1962 R. N. EICHORN ET AL 3,041,804

CARTON FORMING AND CARD PACKAGING MACHINE 7 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 3, 1960 m f/vm/f ROBERT N. EICHORN 5) )wmw July 3, 1962 R. N. EICHORN ETAL 3,041,804

CARTON FORMING AND CARD PACKAGING MACHINE 7 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 3, 1960 July 3, 1962 R. N. EICHORN ETAL 3,041,304

CARTON FORMING AND CARD PACKAGING MACHINE 7 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed June 3, 1960 July 3, 1962 R. N. EICHORN ETAL 3,041,304

CARTON FORMING AND CARD PACKAGING MACHINE 7 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed June 3, 1960 July 3, 1962 R. N. EICHORN ET AL 3,04

CARTON FORMING AND CARD PACKAGING MACHINE Filed June 5, 1960 '7 SheetsSheet 5 July 3, 1962 R. N. EICHORN ETAL 3,041,804-

CARTON FORMING AND CARD PACKAGING MACHINE 7 Sheets-Sheet 6 Filed June 5, 1960 FIG. 11

July 3, 1962 R. N. EICHORN ET AL 3,041,804

CARTON FORMING AND CARD PACKAGING MACHINE '7 Sheets-Sheet 7 Filed June 3, 1960 nit 3,041,804 Patented July 3, 1962 3,041,804 CARTON FORMING AND (IARD PACKAGING MACEHNE Robert N. Eichorn, Endicott, N.Y., and Robert G. Dextcr, Harvard, Mass, assignors to International business Machines Corporation, New York, N .Y., a corporation of New York Filed June 3, 1960, Scr. No. 33,695 (Iiaims. (Ci. 53-124) This invention relates to a carton forming and card packaging machine and in particular to an automatic loading device for stacking a fixed number of variable thickness cards and simultaneously fabricating a carton to the exact height of the stack.

It is well known that cards vary in thickness, such as standard IBM cards, so that a fixed number of stacked cards, say two thousand, will vary in height from other stacks each having two thousand cards. The tolerances for the thickness of the cards permit sufficient leeway so that there can be a build-up clue to these tolerances so that less than a predetermined number of cards could till a fixed space that would normally take the predetermined number. In order to insure that the customer will receive the number of cards he has ordered, it has been the practice to make the cartons a little larger and fill the carton with additional cards. If two thousand cards only are counted, and in view of the varying thickness of each card, they do not fill the carton, the loose fit of the cards results in card damage when they are transported. Since it is important that the carton be the exact size of the cards, either additional cards or fillers are used to take up the void space. In either event, whether the carton is filled with extra cards, or with a filler, the addition of the extra cards or the fillers, becomes quite costly. One solution to the problem is to provide a variable length carton, the capacity being varied by varying the length of the carton itself. Such an arrangement is found in application Serial No. 656,022, filed April 30, 1957, now US. Patent No. 2,938,623, and assigned to the same assignee as the instant application. In that arrangement, a two-piece variable length carton is disclosed for packing a predetermined number of record cards of varying thickness in which one of the two pieces is effectively attached to the other at varying points. However, this two-piece carton, while solving the problem of variable length, requires two separate blanks which must be assembled in the variable length positions.

It is well known to apply flexible wrappings to articles that vary in size. A machine for doing this is found in Patent No. 2,765,602 to Hibbard et al. and assiged to the same assignee as the instant application. Such devices are not normally suitable for forming a variable length box type container from a relatively inflexible sheet of fboxboard.

It is also known to provide a blank of varying length in which a group of articles are manually measured in three dimensions and a carton fabricated to these dimensions. However, once the mechanism is set to the dimensions for fabricating the carton, it cannot be automatically adjusted to minor deviations in size of each article for continually pac aging groups of the same articles.

For purposes of this invention, a variable length carton is intended to mean a blank that is formed into a carton for a fixed number of articles which articles may vary in thickness and the size of the carton varies by this same amount in one dimension.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a machine to automatically score a carton that has a fixed length to the exact height of each group of cards, each group having the same number of cards and each card varying in thickness.

" of the card transporting, card It is an object of this invention to provide a machine for stacking a predetermined number of cards, which cards may vary in thickness, and simultaneously score a fixed length blank to the size of the stack, and then package the cards in the carton.

It is still another object of this invention to provide a machine for stacking a predetermined number of cards which vary in thickness and simultaneously adjust mechanism for scoring a fixed length blank to the height of each stack and then simultaneously form the carton and package the cards.

It is a more specific object of this invention to provide an automatic means for transporting a fixed number of cards to a card stacking mechanism and then to a carton forming and packaging mechanism to form the carton While automatically packaging the cards in the carton.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide a machine for automatically fabricating a fixed length carton to the height of each group of a fixed number of cards by a much simpler and efiicient manner than heretofore found in the prior art.

Briefly stated and in accordance with one aspect of the invention, a carton forming and packaging machine is provided in which means are included for stacking the cards on a movable support, which movable support is connected to a second support for holding a blank carton of fixed length which is to be scored to the exact size of the stack of cards, means are provided for depressing the cards so as to move the support for the cards and simultaneously move the support for the blank. When the predetermined number of cards are positioned in the card stack, scoring means is then activated to score the blank at the exact height determined by the distance that both supports have been moved. In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a card transport mechanism is provided to form the carton and package the cards in the carton.

The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following more particular description of a preferred embodiment of the invention, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the relationship stacking and carton forming, and packaging mechanism.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a fixed number of cards after the cards have been transported and deposited by a card transporting mechanism.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the card stacking mechanism which has received two stacks of cards which were placed in position by the mechanism of FIG. 1.

FIGS. 4, 5, and 6 show the various positions of the support means for the cards as each new stack is placed in the hopper and compacted by the ram means.

FIGS. 7 and 3 schematically show the position of the supporting means for the cards and the carton blank.

FIGS. 9, 10, and 11 show the mechanism for removing the fixed number of cards from the card stacking mechanism.

FIGS. l2, l3, l4, and 15 show the mechanism for positioning the fixed number of cards with respect to the carton blank and for folding the carton blank along the scored portions.

Referring to FIGS 1 and 2, a stack of cards is shown at it} in position after the stack has been deposited in the card stacking mechanism 32 by the card clamping mechanism 12. One way that the cards can be counted out from a hopper and feeding arrangement is shown in the patent to Hibbard et al., 2,765,602, and assigned to the same assignee as the instant application. For purposes of this invention, it is preferred to form several stacks of cards 1% each comprising one thousand cards. However, it is recognized that any fixed number of cards to form -a stack could be used with this invention. The card clamping mechanism 12 will deliver the cards to the card stacking mechanism 32 where they will be deposited. A support is shown at 13 for horizontal movement and is mounted on a pair of rods 14. The rods 14 and sup port 13 are adapted to be reciprocated in any well-known manner and hence is not shown since it does not form any part of the invention. Slideably supported on the support member =13 is a locking plate 16 which is adapted to be displaced as the card clamping mechanism 12 receives the card stack 10.

In order to select a stack of cards 10, the card clamping mechanism is in open position. Since the card clamping mechanism is moved in the direction of arrow 23, the locking plate 16 is driven against the card stack, the locking plate is moved toward the recess 18 in the clamping arm 20. Clamping arm 20 is pivotably mounted at 21 to permit the arm to be urged toward the top of the stack. In view of a mousetrap spring 28, the arm 26 will be pivoted clockwise so that a clamping member 31 will frictionally engage the top of the stack thereby clamping the stack to the base Plate 36.

In order to release the locking plate 16 from recess 18, the rods 14 and support 13 are retracted in the direction indicated at 29. The follower 22 comes in contact with cam surface 24 on stationary member 26. This will pivot clamping arm 20 counterclockwise to an open position, allowing the locking plate to be driven out from the recess 18. This occurs when guide rods strike fixed stops '17. This resets the card clamping mechanism 12 so that when it moves forward in the direction of arrow 23, the follower 22 comes out from under the camming surface 24 to allow clamping arm 26 to rest on top of locking plate 16 holding it in open position.

In order to stack the cards and to restore the card clamping mechanism to its open or receiving position, the rods 14 and the support 13 are activated in the opposite direction as indicated by the arrow 29. This will permit the follower 22 to ride down the camming surface 24 so as to pivot the clampingarm about its pivot 21 and thereby permit removal of the cards stacked in the card stacking position.

In order to receive the stack of cards as described in connection with FIGS. 1 and 2, a card stacking mechanism 32 is provided. The card stacking mechanism includes channel shaped supporting members 52 and 54. The channel shaped supporting members each contain an aperture indicated at 34 and 36. It is through these apertures that the card clamping mechanism 12, as shown in FIG. '2, can move horizontally to pick up a stack of cards, deposit them in the card stacking mechanism 32 and move out of the way for further operations to take place without interference. The apertures are sufficiently large to allow the horizontal movement of the card clamping mechanism 12 while carrying a stack of cards 11 Now in order to strip the cards from the card clamping mechanism 12, while the stack is in card stacking position in the card stacking mechanism 32, a pair of arresting plates 38 and 4d are located inwardly of aperture 34. The cards will be stripped when the clamping arm 26 opens and when the rods 14 and supporting member 13 are retracted from the card stacking mechanism 32. The card clamping mechanism 12 can then be fully retracted from the card stacking mechanism 32 so as to permit it to repeat the card transporting function.

Each time that the card clamping mechanism transports a stack of cards (say one thousand cards) to the card stacking mechanism 32, a plunger 42 is provided to act on the card stack. Since the card stack is supported on a pair of support plates 44 and 46, the support plates 44 and 46 are slideably mounted on the supporting chan nel shaped members 52 and 54 so as to move downwardly under the action of the plunger 42. Means are provided to restore the support plates 44 and 46 to their original position when cards are removed from them and will hereinafter be more fully explained. The supporting channel shaped members 52 and 54 provide the guidance for the cards in the stacking mechanism. The plunger 42 has a pair of elongated arms 48 and 50 extending downwardly to raise the cards to its stack removing position. There is sufiicient frictional force between the support plates 44 and 46, and channels 52 and 54 to support the stack of cards. Therefore, in order to force the cards down, the plunger 42 is activated to overcome the frictional force. Spring loaded cams 56 and 58 permit the support plates 44 and 46 to move downwardly yet limit the upward movement of the plunger 42 and its arms 48 and 5d. The cams 56 and 58 are adapted to be engaged by projecting lugs 6% located inwardly at the bottom portion of the elongated plunger arms 48 and 50. The spring action of the cams restores the cams after permitting the lugs 60 to clear the cams 56 and 58. The spring loaded cams then return to their home position to arrest upward movement of the plunger 42.

Projecting ears 45 are provided on the support plates 44 and 46 so as also to contact the spring loaded cams 56 and 58 when the card stack contains a predetermined number of cards (say three thousand cards). As best shown in FIG. 6, the projecting ears depress the cams to permit elevation of the plunger 42 by allowing the projecting lugs 60 of the elongated plunger arms 48 and 56 to pass clear of the cams 56 and 58 and allowing the extension 49 of plunger arms 48 and 50 to contact the underside of card support surface 47.

Referring now to FIGS. 7 and 8, a scoring and creasing mechanism is provided. A carton blank is shown at 64 which can be fed along a channel 66 to a position on a egment 68 of the channe. The segment 68 is rigidly connected to the support plates 44 and 46 by a U-shaped bar 70. Since the segment 68 is rigidly connected to the support plates, the stack and carton will descend the same distance when the stack is operated upon by the plunger 42. In order to score or crease the carton, a carton scoring unit '71 is provided and includes blocks 72 and 74, one being stationary and the other being activated by a conventional air cylinder or the like (not shown).

Referring to FIG. 9, a card transporting mechanism 73 is provided. This mechanism includes a means for transporting the cards into the cartoning mechanism. This can also be regarded as a precartoning mechanism and includes an arm 76 which contains a base support plate 7-8 and retainer member 89. The retaining member is preferred to be vertically and slideably mounted in the arm 76 so as to clamp the stack on the base plate 78. Any conventional piston arrangement can operate the retaining member 80. In order to brace the card stack against the thrust of the card transporting mechanism a pair of gates 82 and 84 are provided. The arm '76, retainer member and support plate 78 transport the stack from the card stacking mechanism. The spring loaded carton ram 86 is used to move the cards out of the card transporting mechanism 73 for cartoning. A projection 88 is provided on the arm 76 to limit downward movement of the plunger 42 and permit the plunger 42 to clamp the card transport mechanism 73.

As noted above gates 82 and 84 are provided and are pivotably mounted so as to brace the card stack against the thrust of the card transport mechanism 73. When the gates 82 and 84 are open, this permits the card transport mechanism 73 to continue its forward travel through the card stacking mechanism toward the cartoning or carton forming mechanism.

Referring to FIGS. 12-15, cartoning or carton forming mechanism is provided. Forming blocks 90 and and the base forming member 102 define the carton forming space. The base forming member 102 is provided with leading edges 104 and 106 which are bent over so as to contact mating tabs on the carton (FIG. 13) to start the carton forming operation. Feeding means not shown is provided to remove the filled carton from the carton filling area 108.

In operation the card clamping mechanism 12 is moved horizontally by activating the rods 14 and the support 13 in the direction of the arrow at 23. The clamping arm 20 is normally above the stack of cards. The stack of cards is generally a fixed number, and due to the variance in thickness, each card will result in each stack of cards being diiferent in height. Accordingly, the clamping member 31 is adapted to pass over the top of the deck as the support 13 is moved forward regardless of the difference in height. Simultaneously, the locking plate 16 is displaced toward the support member 13. As the support member 13 moves forwardly, the card deck will force the locking plate 16 so as to align with the locking recess 18 in order to allow the clamping member 31 to engage the top surface of the stack. Also, the base 30 slides under the bottom of the stack raising it from its supports and thereby clamping the stack between the surfaces 30 and 31. The spring 28 functions to urge the clamping arm 20 and surface 31 downwardly against the stack.

In order to transport the stack from the outer side of channel 54 through aperture 36 into stacking position against arresting members 38 and 40 in the card stacking mechanism 32, the rods 14 and support 13 are moved in the direction indicated by arrow 29. Now after the card clamping mechanism 12 continues beyond the arresting members 38 and 40, the arresting members will strip the cards from the clamping mechanism. The cards will then be deposited on support plates 46 and 48 and cam follower 22 will contact cam surface 24 on the stationary member 26 raising arm 20 from: locking plate 16 allowing locking plate 16 to be returned to its forward position by the support arms engaging the stops 17.

Plunger 42 is now activated to depress the top of the stack to a predetermined height to permit the card clamping mechanism to pass over the stack and through apertures 34 and 36 to select the next stack of cards (say one thousand cards). Now when plunger 42 depresses the first stack, cams '56 and 58 engage lugs 60 to limit the upward travel of plunger 42 so as to prevent the stack being moved back up to its original position. Simultaneously, the carton track segment 68 will be lowered by the same amounts as card support plates 44 and 46 have been depressed. The same cycle is then repeated for the second stack (we now have two thousand cards in the card stacking mechanism). Now when the third or last stack has been deposited in the card stacking mechanism on the first and second stacks, plunger 42 depresses all three stacks (which will now be referred to as a single stack). Consequently the carton support is also depressed by the same amount and the projecting ears 45 pivot locking cams 56 and 58 clear of lugs 60. At this time the scoring unit 71 is activated in the direction of arrow 77 to score the carton.

Plunger 2 now starts to return to its up position. Since locking cams 5'6 and 58 are clear of lugs dtt, the projection 49 on arms 48 and 50 contacts the underside of card support surface 47 on card support plates 44 and 4-6, returning the card support surface 47 and plates 44% and 46 to their original up position which will also return carton blank 64 and carton track segment 68 to its original position as shown in FIG. 7.

Gates and 84 then close to retain the stack when card transporting mechanism 73 starts forward to grip the stack as indicated by arrow 75 (FIG. 9).

Now referning to FIG. 10, the base plate 73 is shown having passed under the stack and raising it from the card support plates and 46, and the card carton ram is depressed so that its end at 37 loads extension spring 89. Retaining member 39 moves vertically down clamping the card stack against base plate Plunger 42 then moves downward from its position shown in phantom clamping onto projection 88.

The scored carton blank is now moved from its position as shown in FIG. 7 by feed means 65 in the direction of arrow 67 to its carton forming position shown in FIG. 12. The carton is now positioned directly in front of the card stack as shown in FIGS. 1 and 12. At this time gates 82 and 84 are opened by any well known automatic means as shown in FIG. 11, after which plunger 42 returns to the position shown in phantom in FIG. 10 allowing card transport arm 73 to move in the direction as indicated by arrow 75,

The card transport arm 73 carries the card stack and card carton ram to the position shown in FIG. 13. The leading edges 104 and 106 on base forming member 1%.? form the bottom flap. In FIG. 14, further movement of the card transport mechanism 73 carries the card stack, carton, and ram 36 to form the sides of the carton against the forming blocks 9% and 198. The forward travel of the card transport mechanism 73 stops when the carton is completely formed about the card stack. The clamp or retaining member St} is released to unclamp the cards to allow the spring force of spring 89 to activate the ram 86 further forward. The ram continues to move the carton with its contents, namely, the stack of cards, past the base forming member 102 so that the carton and its contents can drop into the channel 1173. A feeding means not shown will move the filled carton out of the carton filling area where it is removed, land the car-ton closed by the operator, leaving the mechanism ready to perform another cycle.

While the carton 64 is transported in front of the stack, a new carton blank is fed into the scoring unit 71 over segment 68 in preparation for the next stack.

While the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to a preferred embodiment thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In a carton forming and card pack-aging machine for forming a carton and packaging cards, card stacking means including card supports for receiving a stack of cards, card clamping mechanism for selecting a stack of cards and depositing it in the card stacking means, means for moving the card clamping means out of the path of the card stacking means, plunger means for depressing the stack of cards and card supports, a carton blank sup port plate connected to the card supports so as to simultaneously move the same distance as the card supports when they are depressed, a scoring unit for scoring the carton blank at the exact height of the depressed stack of cards, means for transporting the carton blank adjacent the card stack, a card transport unit to transport the stack of cards from the card stacking mechanism, and a c rton forming unit having a plurality of forming members, the carton being formed about the cards by the forming unit and the transport means as the cards and carton blank are being transported through the forming unit by the transport means.

2. In a carton forming and card packaging machine for forming a carton to the exact height of a stack of cards and packaging the cards in that formed carton, a card stacking mechanism including card support plates for supporting a stack of cards, a card clamping mechanism positioned to one side of the card stacking mechanism and adapted to pass through the card stacking mechanism to select a stack of cards on the other side i the card stacking mechanism to deposit them in the card stacking mechanism, means for releasing the card stack and moving the card clamping mechanism to the one side of the card stacking mechanism, plunger means positioned above the stack to depress the stack and card support plates when it is activated, a carton channel segmeat for supporting a blank carton and which is connected to the card support plates so that when the card support plates are depressed the carton channel segment Will be depressed by the same amount, a scoring unit for scoring the carton at a position determined by the amount said stack is depressed, means for transporting the carton in front of the card stacking mechanism, a card transport mechanism positioned to the back of the card stacking mechanism and including gripper elements to grip and transport the stack of cards from the card stacking mechanism, the card transport mechanism being mounted to pass through the card stacking mechanism, a carton forming mechanism positioned to the front of the card stacking mechanism and spaced therefrom so that the scored 7 carton blank is positioned between the carton forming mechanism and the card stacking mechanism, gate means on the card stacking mechanism to retain the cards in the stacking mechanism when the card transporting mechanism grips the stack, the card transporting mechanism continuing forward toward the carton forming mechanism with the cards to simultaneously form the carton and package the cards, and means for transporting the packaged cards from the carton forming unit.

3. In a carton forming and card packaging machine for forming a carton to the exact height of a stack of cards and packaging the cards in the formed carton, a card stacking unit, first platform means slidably mounted on said unit for supporting a stack of cards, a scoring unit comprising a stationary die member and a movable score member, second platform means, means for positioning a carton blank between said die and score members and supported by said second platform means, a rigid support member connecting said second platform means to said first slidable platform means, means for depositing a stack of cards on said first platform means, ram means on said stacking unit and operable to depress said stack of cards and said finst sl i-dable platform means to establish the height of said stack of cards at a predetermined level in said stacking unit, said second platform means moving with said first platform means to adjust said carton blank with respect to said scoring unit according to the height of said stack of cards, and means for operating said score member to score said adjusted carton blank at the height corresponding to the height of said stack of cards.

4. In a carton forming and card packaging machine for forming a canton to the exact height of a stack of cards and packaging the cards in the formed carton, a card stacking unit, first platform means slidably mounted on said unit for supporting a stack unit comprising a stationary die member and a movable score member, second platform means, means for posi of cards, a scoring tioning a carton blank between said die and score mem: bers and supported by said second platform means, a rigid support member connecting said second platform means to said first slidable platform means, a cyclically operable carriage mechanism for depositing a plurality of individual stacks of cards on said first platform means, ram means on said stacking unit and cyclically operable after each deposit of a stack of cards to depress the stacked cards and said first slidable platform means to establish the height of the stacked cards at a predetermined level in said stacking unit, said second platform means moving with said first platform means to adjust said carton blank with respect to said scoring unit according to the height of said stacked cards, and means effective after a predetermined number of cards have been stacked for operating said score member to score said adjusted carton blank at the height corresponding to the height of the stacked cards.

5. In a carton forming and card packaging machine for forming a cation to the exact height of a stack of cards and packaging the cards in the formed carton, a card stacking box, a first platform means slidably mounted in said box for supporting a stack of cards, a scoring unit comprising a stationary die member and a movable score member, second platform means, means for positioning a carton blank between said die and score members and supported by said second platform means, a rigid support member connecting said second platform means to said first slidable platform means, apertures in said stacking box to provide a horizontal passageway therethrough, a cyclically operable carriage mechanism adapted for reciprocation into and out of said passageway for depositing a plurality of individual stacks of cards on said first platform means, ram means on said stacking unit and cyclically operable after each deposit of a stack of cards to depress the stacked cards and said first slidable platform means whereby the top of the stack is adjusted to a predetermined level just below said passageway, said sec ond platform means moving with said first platform means to adjust said carton blank with respect to said scoring unit according to the height of said stacked cards, and means effective after a predetermined number of cards have been stacked for operating said score member to score said adjusted carton blank rat the height corresponding to the height of the stacked cards.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 968,146 Giroud Aug. 23, 1910 1,142,575 Inman June 8, 1915 2,633,280 Davies Mar. 31, 1953 

